The present invention concerns a sintered, highly porous body comprising at least one layer that is made of a sinterable material, which comprises fibers, as well as a method for producing said bodies and the use thereof.
Sintered, highly porous bodies are used for several technical purposes. In particular they are used as combustion elements, as due to their porosity they are able to absorb liquid fuel temporarily and to evaporate it at the surfaces of the element. Such combustion elements have to stand correspondingly high temperatures. Sintered, highly porous bodies are in particular also used in auxiliary heatings of automobiles.
From the state of art it is known to produce highly porous bodies from sinterable metal powders. However, by using such metal powders, porosities can be achieved, which merely have dimensions of slightly more than approximately 60%. To achieve higher porosities it is furthermore known to use sinterable metal fibers. Such sinterable metal fibers can subsequently interweaved into fibrous webs, which are then sintered. Such fibrous webs can have porosities of up to nearly 90%.
The possibility to use highly porous bodies in particular as combustion elements requires good burn-off properties and values for the flame adherence. At the same time, such elements must have high porosities. However, the higher the porosity of the body, the lower values can be achieved for the flame adherence and the burn-off properties of the body.
It is the object of the present invention to provide sintered, highly porous bodies, which do not show the afore mentioned disadvantages.